Association between empirical dietary inflammatory index, odds, and severity of anxiety disorders: A case–control study

Abstract

Diet may be a modifiable factor in the prevention of psychiatric disorders by modulating inflammation. In this study, we evaluated the association between empirical dietary inflammatory index (EDII) that is designed to evaluate the inflammatory potential of diets and anxiety disorders (AD) in adults. This case–control study was carried out on 85 patients who were group matched by gender with 170 healthy subjects. Data for dietary intake were assessed by using a 147‐item validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Anthropometric measures were collected using standard methods. EDII score was developed according to participants' dietary intakes of 28 predefined food groups. Multivariate odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to investigate the association of empirically derived inflammatory potential of the diet and anxiety disorder. We observed that after adjusting for confounders, individuals in the top category of EDII score were 2.09 fold more likely to have anxiety disorder compared with those in the bottom category (OR: 2.09, 95% CI: 1.01, 4.33). Also, higher EDII contributed to a higher GAD‐7 score (p < .001). There was a significant positive linear association between EDII and AD (β = 3.64, p < .001). After controlling for potential confounders AD had a strong positive correlation with the EDII score (r = .61, p‐value <.001). In conclusion, in this case–control study, we realized that there is a positive association between the EDII score, odds, and severity of anxiety disorder. Ultimately, the potential role necessitates clarifying this association by conducting large‐population prospective cohort studies.

Dietary Inflammatory Potential, Inflammation-Related Lifestyle Factors, and Incident Anxiety Disorders: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…Diet may directly or indirectly influence anxiety development through several mechanisms, for which chronic inflammation serves as a common substrate, such as those involved in the production and metabolism of neurotransmitters and the microbiome-gut-brain axis (MGBA) [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. To date, with the use of the dietary inflammatory index (DII ® ), several studies have evaluated the inflammatory potential of the diet in association with anxiety symptoms, generating inconsistent findings [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. All these studies have been cross-sectional or case-control in design, limiting inferences about causality, especially when the association between diet and mental disorders is complex and likely to be bidirectional [ 5 ].…”

Association between energy‐adjusted dietary inflammatory index and total immunoglobulin E: A cross‐sectional study

“…Different dietary patterns closely correlate with chronic inflammation, and the dietary inflammatory index (DII) has emerged as a widely recognized and effective tool for assessing the inflammatory potential of different diets (Shivappa et al., 2014 ). Numerous studies have demonstrated the close association between DII and a range of chronic diseases, such as hypertension and anxiety disorders (Torabynasab et al., 2023 ; Tyrovolas et al., 2017 ).…”